Ex-NFL coach sees good in D-III

Coach Aaron Pelch got a taste
of the NFL with the Oakland Raiders in the 2009 season before
returning to Millsaps, where he was an assistant from 2006 to
2008.
Millsaps athletics photo

Through seven games, Millsaps might be the quietest 6-1 team in
the nation. After a quick 4-0 start, the Majors out of the newly
formed Southern Athletic Association, likely wouldn't have been
able to stay under the radar had they not lost Huntington on Oct.
6.

With three games to play, Millsaps has enjoyed the ability to
have a quiet confidence moving forward. After two convincing
victories over Sewanee and Rhodes, the Majors have clinched at
least a share of the SAA title and can likely control its own
destiny of a return to the playoffs by winning out.

That confidence starts at the top with third-year head coach
Aaron Pelch. It doesn't take long to understand how much love the
coach has for his program and players than with just a short phone
conversation. He loves his team and talking about his players
individually and how they fit within the scope of the program's
goal to be a better team every week.

"I can tell you that he loves every single guy on our team; it's
hard to even explain how much," said senior quarterback Garrett
Pinciotti. "I wouldn't want to be coached by anyone else. He's
definitely a motivator. He's very straightforward, if we play well
he tells us, and if we don't, we'll definitely hear about it."

Pelch loved Millsaps and the student-athletes so much he left
the glamours of the NFL and the Oakland Raiders following the 2009
season to take over as the Majors' leader. He served as an
assistant on Mike Dubose's staff at Millsaps from 2006 to 2008
before getting the NFL opportunity. When Dubose took a spot on the
University of Memphis coaching staff prior to the 2009 season,
Pelch came back.

If the average football fan heard that story, they would likely
think he's crazy. Who would leave the luxuries of the NFL to coach
... a Division III school? But after talking to Pelch, it's really
quite simple.

"It's going to be a question that I always get, but the answer
is, there's something to be said about the quality of life you have
as a Division III coach," Pelch said. "The people you are able to
surround yourself with, good people and good kids committed not
only to football, but what they want to be when they grow up and
what kind of person they want to be."

Pinciotti and sophomore defensive end Zach Bell are taking the
personality of their head coach; when asked about their team, both
players love to talk about their teammates. And, both are confident
in Millsaps' ability as a football team, which is conveyed in their
distaste to face each other in practice as offensive and defensive
units.
"It's so much fun to watch [the offense] from the sidelines every
week. I just thank God that we don't have to prepare for them,"
said Bell. "I think Garrett's a little lighter on his feet this
year, has a little more swagger and likes the offense we're
running."

Pinciotti said he feels the reciprocal effect.

"It's miserable going against them in practice, when I watch
them in the game I know what the other team is going though," said
Pinciotti. "They put on a show they're a ton of fun to watch, and
as an offense we know we don't have to go outscore people."

Balance has been a factor in Millsaps' 6-1 record with the
offense averaging 465 yards per game and the Majors' defense
holding opponents to 327.4 yards per contest. Pinciotti has thrown
for 20 touchdowns and just three interceptions thus far through his
senior season while Bell, in just his second year, leads the team
with 45 tackles, 11.5 tackles for a loss, 7.5 sacks and three
forced fumbles.

"Zach is a very emotional, very talented and instinctive
football player, he's so fun to watch, and he's a great playmaker,"
Pelch said. "And [Garrett] has a great fundamental understanding of
the game and what defenses are trying to do."

Millsaps has three obstacles in the way of returning to the
playoffs for the first time since 2008: Trinity, Austin and
Birmingham-Southern. The Majors have a 1.5 game lead in the SAA
with the BSC finale determining whether or not they will have to
share the first-year title.

Both Pinciotti and Bell said they wouldn't like to share the
title with anyone else, but at the same time their thoughts are on
larger things.

"We're definitely excited as a team but not satisfied, we want
that title outright, and BSC will have to come to our house," said
Bell. "We want to be 8-1 when that game arrives, and we want that
ring, but more we want to move on to the week after that."

Pinciotti said the mentality of the team moving towards the sole
SAA championship and the NCAA playoffs is a process.

"I'll be honest, I don't want to share, but I don't really care
about that – we have to beat Trinity," he said. "Once we do
that, we'll move on and go one at a time."

At 6-1 the Majors aren't receiving any votes in the polls, but
if they pull off three victories to close the season, a lack of
ranking will be a distant memory to a program looking to return to
playoff form.

"When you have 250 teams playing in Division III all clamoring
for attention, it's really difficult. We had our opportunity to get
in the conversation with Huntingdon, and we played poorly," said
Pelch. "We lost, so people begin to doubt how good you are, and
with good reason. I don't think we feel slighted, but we missed an
opportunity to show how good we were, and I hope we can close the
season where people are able to see it for themselves."

The Majors may or may not run the table the next three weeks and
make the playoffs. But one thing is for certain: They have a coach
leading the program that grasps the concept of Division III. And,
coming from a man who graduated from public Weber State in Utah and
left the chartered flights of the NFL for the bus rides in the
south, the Majors have a major find in Aaron Pelch.

"My first experience as an assistant at Millsaps was my first at
the small-college level or even a private school," Pelch said. "But
I loved it, we won a lot of games, and that was a part of it. But
the kids I worked with were different; people don't understand D3
if they've never been in it and the collective experience of
Millsaps between the players, parents and administration was what
was great about my time here, and that's what brought me back."

ASC roundup

Louisiana Colege avoided the scare of the nation's top offense
by shutting down Sul Ross' A.J. Springer and Dominique Carson for
the most part in the Wildcats' 41-24 win over the Lobos in Alpine
on Saturday. Carson struggled with the LC defense, gaining only 30
yards on 15 carries, but did manage to add his 22nd touchdown of
the season on a reception. But, the story was the Wildcats who have
settled back into a groove with 513 yards of total offense while
improving to 6-2 on the season.

With Mary Hardin-Baylor's win over Hardin-Simmons, Louisiana
College must take that coveted eighth win (Wildcats have finished
7-3 the last four seasons) by defeating Texas Lutheran, Mississippi
College and its toughest task Nov. 10 against HSU.

Hardin-Simmons led 32-31 over No. 2 UMHB in Belton, but as the
Cru does, it took over in the fourth quarter and scored the last 14
points of the contest to take the victory and avoid any blemish on
their record. Senior quarterback LiDarral Bailey threw for 250
yards and rushed for 172 in the win while linebacker Javicz Jones
had an All-America caliber game with 14 tackles, two tackles for a
loss, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, two interceptions and
a sack ... those were not season statistics – that happened
Saturday.

East Texas Baptist took a 52-28 win over Howard Payne behind
Seth Hubbard's 450-yard passing day while Mississippi College
snapped a 4-game losing skid by sending Texas Lutheran on a 3-game
slide by a score of 24-21.

SAA roundup

Sewanee turned heads by thumping a reeling Birmingham-Southern
who just three weeks ago was in the playoff picture. However, after
a tough loss to top 10 Wesley and to Trinity, the Sewanee Tigers
made things worse for the Panthers. They dominated the clock with a
35:16 time of possession, tallied 267 rushing yards on 61 carries,
and made the most of only five passing completions by averaging
26.4 yards per catch for their marquee win of the season. Sewanee
has a chance to finish with a respectable 5-5 record if it can
defeat Rhodes and Trinity in the final two games of the season.

Centre also played spoiler Saturday just as independent Trinity
appeared to be back on track, the Colonels stomped on the Tigers'
hearts with a 31-14 win. Trinity dropped to 4-3 leaving the team
virtually no chance at a playoff berth come November. The Colonel
defense picked off four Tiger passes (two from Casey Vatter) and
enjoyed a 147-yard rushing performance from Monte Scotton in the
win.

What to watch for

No. 16 Huntingdon plays host to No. 5 Wesley. Wesley took a
tough loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor earlier in the season and has
escaped tough games from Louisiana College (W, 25-22 on Sept. 22)
and Birmingham-Southern (W, 26-17 on Oct. 6), but can they hold off
another ranked opponent Saturday? Huntindgon should be well rested
after three weeks since the Hawks' last contest, but whether they
will be game-sharp with that much of a layoff remains to be
seen.

Sul Ross has put on some Big XII-esque shootouts this season and
still has a chance to post its first winning record since joining
the American Southwest Conference since 1996. Another shootout
could be in order when the Lobos travel to Abilene to face
Hardin-Simmons; the Lobos have given up an astounding average of 50
points per contest defensively while the Cowboys have allowed an
average of just over 30 points per contest.

Millsaps has two tough games left out of its final three, and
the Majors could use the momentum of a victory Saturday in San
Antonio against Trinity in their quest for their first playoff
berth since 2008; Trinity will try to bounce back from
disappointment as it has proved it can this season already.

Justin Goldberg is a newspaper copy editor and freelance writer in southwest Virginia. Originally from New York, he played Division III basketball in that colder region of the country, but moved to Virginia in 2008 to earn his M.F.A. in creative writing. He has written for multiple publications, including C-VILLE Weekly and The Roanoke Times. He is happy to join D3football.com for his first season as the Around the South columnist.2013 columnist: Andee Djuric2012 columnist: Kyle Robarts2008-11 columnist: Jason Bowen